It: an animal? some other living thing? an object? a vehicle? car? bus? train? plane? motorbike? bicycle? Did it kill him directly? Did it have physical contact with him? Him = human? adult? male? If it hadn't slowed down, would it still have killed him? If it hadn't taken the long way round, would it still have killed him?

It: an animal? No some other living thing? No an object? Yes a vehicle? No car? No bus? No train? No plane? No motorbike? No bicycle? NoDid it kill him directly? Yes Did it have physical contact with him? YesHim = human? Yes adult? Yes male? YesIf it hadn't slowed down, would it still have killed him? No If it hadn't taken the long way round, would it still have killed him? No

A large object? is it circular? squar-ish? rectangular? irregular? How does it move--is it thrown by someone? does it have its own ability to move? {eg clockwork, mechanisms etc) Is this a common object? Something one can find in almost every home? Does it have an artificial brain? Does it hit him? Does this cause his death?

A large object? No is it circular? Yesish squar-ish? No rectangular? Yesish irregular? YesishHow does it move--is it thrown by someone? No does it have its own ability to move? No {eg clockwork, mechanisms etc) Is this a common object? Yes Something one can find in almost every home? NoDoes it have an artificial brain? NoDoes it hit him? Yes Does this cause his death? Yes

The atmoshere? Building? A man made structure? Man made something? Relevent who shot the gun? Relevent where in the world this happened? The thing it ht to slow down and the thing it hit to ricochet off the same? Bullet fired up? Down? Parallel(aproomately) to ground? At an angle?

The atmoshere? No Building? Yesish A man made structure? Yesish Man made something? Yes - Explore Relevent who shot the gun? Noish Relevent where in the world this happened? Yes The thing it ht to slow down and the thing it hit to ricochet off the same? No Bullet fired up? Down? Parallel(aproomately) to ground? At an angle? This One

Was the bullet fired at an angle pointing toward the ground? No up in the air? YesishDid it ricochet off something soft? Yes fragile? No small? No far away? Not particularly moving? No solid? Yes liquid? No

Did this happen in Europe? No the Americas? Yes Africa? No Asia? No Australia? No the Arctic? No the Antarctic? No at sea? No in the air? No in space? NoRelevant when this happened? Nope

Well, Im going to give this a little recap to kinda push this along a touch.

We have determined that a male was shot and killed with a bullet. We have also found out that this bullet had ricocheted of off something soft and solid. The bullet was fired up at an angle, but not up into the sky.

All that needs to be figured out now is what did the bullet richochet off of specifically, and what makes this "death by bullet" unusual enough for me to memorialize it here...

Maybe I should give you a hint... The man was shot with a high caliber bullet, but theres something odd about his death concerning that fact...

Was the bullet fired from a gun? From the same caliber gun as the bullet? When it hit the man, did it still have enough momentum to penetrate the man's body? Did this happen inside a building? Or outside close to a building? The thing that the bullet bounced off - If I went up to this thing and pushed it with my hand, would it resist my hand totally? Give a little? Give quite a lot? Would my hand come away wet? or Sticky? Would any part of the thing transfer from the thing to my hand?

Aragorn: Did the bullet enter his body from one place, travel up/down his body stopping in his heart/head? No, entered in one place and travelled a short distance

Plebian: Was the bullet fired from a gun? Yes From the same caliber gun as the bullet? YesWhen it hit the man, did it still have enough momentum to penetrate the man's body? Penetrate? Yes. Did it come out? No.Did this happen inside a building? Yes and No - Explore. Or outside close to a building? Yes and no - again, explore.The thing that the bullet bounced off - If I went up to this thing and pushed it with my hand, would it resist my hand totally? Give a little? Give quite a lot? The entire thing itself would move with minimal force, but if you wish to distort this object, it would require more force.Would my hand come away wet? No or Sticky? NoWould any part of the thing transfer from the thing to my hand? No

beccaann: was the shooter intending to hit the object that the bullet bounced off of? Not at all!

aragorn: was the shooter in a building and the victim outside? Shooter and Shootee were in separate buildings

were they both in the same building, the victim living on the upper floor? See above

0815: Did the wound caused by the bullet directly kill the man? Yes Was there some secondary effect that caused his death? No Did the impact of the bullet make him fall down? Yes inasmuch as a dead man will fall down...

Did the bullet have to pass through glass to get from gun to shootee? Did the bullet strike another living thing on the way to the living-when-it-hit-him-but-dead-now shootee? Was the building holding the shooter a 'normal' building (e.g. house/office/tower block), which would appear normal to most people? Same question for the shootee's building?

Plebian: Did the bullet have to pass through glass to get from gun to shootee? NopeDid the bullet strike another living thing on the way to the living-when-it-hit-him-but-dead-now shootee? NopeWas the building holding the shooter a 'normal' building (e.g. house/office/tower block), which would appear normal to most people? The building the shooter was in would appear normal to people of his ilk.Same question for the shootee's building? The building the shootee was in would look normal to all of us.

maybe asked beforeIs the shooter: - Male? Adult? Human? Living (at the time of the incident)? Would the shooter's building be likely to be seen On a normal city-centre street? In a quiet village? On a county Lane? In the jungle? In the arctic (or antarctic)? In the sea? In the air?

0815: Is the shooter a hunter? Possibly, but not crucial to the story Is the thing the bullet ricocheted off outside? No manmade? Yes a tree? No

Plebian: maybe asked before Is the shooter: - Male? Yes, but NRAdult? YesHuman? YesLiving (at the time of the incident)? YesWould the shooter's building be likely to be seen On a normal city-centre street? NoIn a quiet village? PossiblyOn a county Lane? NoIn the jungle? NoIn the arctic (or antarctic)? NoIn the sea? NoIn the air? No

Im going to focus this and say that the shooter was in one building and the shootee was in another. Just need to figure out what the bullet ricocheted off of now.

Plebian: So this was an accidental killing, right? CorrectDid the bullet ricochet of another human? NoOr another living (? or once living?) thing? No, it ricocheted off of something man made. If you pushed this item, the whole item would move, but it would require a little more force to distort this object. It is not wet, nor soft.

Plebian: Would the item move because it isn't very heavy? YesIs the item filled with air? NoLike a baloon? No Or like a sponge, solid in itself though containing lots of air? Yesish... Dont want to confuse though. It is a solid item

0815: Made mostly of wood? This is probably the closest in a losse sense metal? No plastic? No cloth? No glass? No Leather? NoSize: Smaller than a golf ball? smaller than a soccer ball? smaller than a chair? This one smaller than a car?

Window pane?? Hmmm... It passed through a window, but it was an open window, so no. ;)

But the assumption that the bullet didn't pass through the intermediate object is correct, right? Did the object break when the bullet hit it? Was the object: - connected to the shooter's building? connected to the shooter himself? connected to the shootee's building? connected to the shootee himself? if any 'he's are 'her's, apologies flying in the air? floating in the air? (I assume we can take it that the shooting was an accident, that the shooter merely dropped or picked up the gun & it went off, and that the point of significance now is what the strange object it was the bullet ricoched off?)

Plebian: But the assumption that the bullet didn't pass through the intermediate object is correct, right? Correct. It bounced off this objectDid the object break when the bullet hit it? It didnt break, but it was gougedWas the object: - connected to the shooter's building? Noconnected to the shooter himself? Noconnected to the shootee's building? Yesconnected to the shootee himself? Noif any 'he's are 'her's, apologies Tis fine, gender doesnt matter for the story, but established as both male. flying in the air? Nofloating in the air? No(I assume we can take it that the shooting was an accident, that the shooter merely dropped or picked up the gun & it went off, and that the point of significance now is what the strange object it was the bullet ricoched off?) Very very good. Once you have that piece of data, I will reveal the solution.

Was it something likely to be seen attached to a building of the kind inhabited by the shootee on a regular basis? Or only at certain times of the year? if so: - Christmas? Easter? Spring? Summer? Autumn? Winter?

And the angle of the bullet was slanting upward before it hit whatever it deflected off, right? Something on the ceiling of the shootee's room? If the bullet had struck at a more perpendicular angle to the object, would it have penetrated? Would if have passed through? If a man were to push, say, a pencil into the object at right angles, would the pencil penetrate?

Plebian: And the angle of the bullet was slanting upward before it hit whatever it deflected off, right? YesSomething on the ceiling of the shootee's room? Yesssss -- Getting CloserIf the bullet had struck at a more perpendicular angle to the object, would it have penetrated? Yessss Would if have passed through? YessssssIf a man were to push, say, a pencil into the object at right angles, would the pencil penetrate? YES, many try to by throwing the pencils

A shooter on an outdoor range was practicing with a somewhat modified model 1911. The fellow had fired and during the recoil, with the pistol still being directed upward, another round was discharged. It was determined that the firing pin failed to disengage.

The range building and the firing range were adjacent to each other, but the building was down range from the firing lines. That is to say if you fired down range at this place, you would be shooting at the range building. The actual range had several overhead baffles, which were damaged and spaced improperly, and some rather high berms surrounded it, with the building being about a foot or two taller than the berm at the end of the range.

The shooter had ignored one of the range rules that stated no one was to shoot forward of a certain line. He was forward of this line when his pistol malfunctioned, the misfired slug going between the protective baffles, missing one of the baffles by inches. The round continued on and just barely topped the berm at the end of the range; by inches again.

The .45 round penetrated the metal siding into the building. Once inside, the projectile struck the ceiling tiles, those white acoustic type tiles, and ricocheted back down toward the floor. The ceiling tile was shown to have a 10"-12" gash cause by the slug. The bullet passed through another interior wall just missing a wall stud and some other obstructions, thus reducing its speed dramatically (an electrical wiring harness and some cleaning tools...broom, mop, etc...) and then went on to strike a boy in the head. The bullet had lost enough velocity that it managed to enter the boy’s head, but not exit.

This bullet somehow found the path of least resistance, missing 7 or 8 different things that would have most likely stopped it before ever reaching the child. Ballistic testing matched the round to the pistol and quite a bit of computer reconstruction determined the exact route of the slug and that the shooter's handgun had indeed discharged a second time during recoil; it was a malfunction and not a second pull of the trigger.

******** END SPOILER ***********

I found this story very interesting and worthy of a puzzle. Good job everyone!

Good one (the bit about the pencils was a giveaway). If those ceiling tiles are the kind of thing you get in many offices, it's even more surprising that this incident occurred. They're made of compressed fibre, and it's quite easy to put your finger through one, so the bullet must've come at a narrow angle to actually deflect